29.7.13

HM Keeping It Together, Pt. 1

Had some boxes made recently to contain various collections of related material, and also some of the ephemeral pamphlets we like so much.

Jim Rimmer's Leaves From the Pie Tree is one of the most important private press books ever published in Canada, in terms of content and execution. It didn't exactly take the world by storm when it was published in 2006. Part of the reason may be the edition was just 40 copies, so word can spread only so far; part of the reason may also be Jim's humility and the resulting lack of ability to announce to the world what he's just done. Gaspereau printed a trade version (not a facsimile, which is unfortunate; their reset & redesigned version didn't really capture the spirit of the original, but at least it made the content available to a wider audience). Over the years, during visits to Jim's shop, we'd come away with proofs of type or waste sheets of whatever he was working on. So we finally had a box made to contain it all, along with our copy of Leaves. The box was made by Adele Shaak (who makes all the big boxes for HM's personal collection; we're too lazy, and she does a much better job).

One particularly kool item in the image above is the copy of The Silver City Sentinel: it was set and printed by Jim on his little Albion for use in a movie being shot in Vancouver. They only needed one copy, and this copy was a proof saved from Jim's trash bin.

Roy A. Squires, one of our favorite private pressmen, issued two type specimen books. The first is very uncommon (1962), having been issued in an edition of just 48 copies. The second (1977) was a much larger edition (300), but still not often encountered.

Our copy of the second book is particularly interesting for being sewn into what appear to be some of Henry Morris's roller-printed paste papers, a topic about which Morris published an entire book in 1975. This box shown above was made at HM.

Here's an example of ephemeral printing that's particularly famous & appealing to HM's interest in hoax publishing: the original publication of H.P. Lovecraft's A History of Necronomicon. One of history's most famous and influential books that never existed. It's kept in a simple case portfolio we made, with a vellum paper pouch to hold it in place. The paper is some Thai stuff that finally proved itself useful.

Rollin Milroy

Heavenly Monkey

Heavenly Monkey is the private press of Rollin Milroy (above) and a revolving cast of friends. While the history of books and printing are particular interests, we submit to no specific publishing program, other than books that we would want to own. Editions range in size from 25 to 50 copies, depending on the amount of handwork required to complete each copy. We publish an average of two new titles each year. Collaboration is by invitation; no submissions or inquiries please. Contact us at HM [at] heavenlymonkey.com